Can cows pick up kernel corn?

[Rcole1310]

I just wanted clarification on a debate with my buddy. He says cows can pick up corn kernels with no problem. I think they have a hard time with kernels but can get it if it's piled up. May have to sit and get video for proof. What do y'all think?

[buckmastertexas]

Don't know, but I would not bet against the cow. A sticky tongue could probably get the job done.

[Hookem84]

the cows at my lease have no problem getting the corn thats thrown by the feeder

[Boomerang]

They can pick up every piece of grain if they want.

[HC Sniper]

They will not spend much time trying to pick up corn by the kernel. Our cows will come through and just give it a very brief try then move on. If you pile it up, they will eat it till it is very close to ground level, then give up. Just my experience.

[SB09]

They will not spend much time trying to pick up corn by the kernel. Our cows will come through and just give it a very brief try then move on. If you pile it up, they will eat it till it is very close to ground level, then give up. Just my experience.

I've seen the same thing.

But, they still have the ability to if they want to bad enough.

[KDinTX]

I promise you they can, I've run them out more than once and now have a sling shot in each blind just for cows and the occasional squirrel.

[Gunnyart]

I have a series of trail cam pics of a cow with her tongue in the spinner plate of my feeder for 45 minutes.

[DuramaxDude]

I have had complete and total h@## with cows and horses this year tearing up home made PVC feeders and eating/lipping/licking whatever the corn on the ground. They may have a hard time with it but they still give it a good effort. I used to throw out milo around trough and tank over flows to get pics of birds and they would lick and lip at it also.

[miket]

the cows at my lease have no problem getting the corn thats thrown by the feeder

They can pick up every piece of grain if they want.

Yep and yep. They do seem to tire of it after a while if they have other stuff to eat.

[CaptainRedbeard]

those pics say it all

[oktx]

They can, just not real easy.

[huntindude]

I have heard, dont know if it is true or not, that they will get a little bit but also get alot of sand/dirt as well (if you hunt that kind of terrain) and will give up rather quickly once they are tired of eating dirt before they can eat near all of the corn.

[expressfish]

yes

[catslayer]

go look at my posts previously on this topic with links to the definition of a grazer versus a concentrate selector.

Bottom line is yes they CAN do it but if they have food other places and the corn is spread out not piled up they GENERALLY won't take the time to mess with it.

Now if the place is overgrazed and in a drought(most leases are WAY overgrazed) then they are MUCH MUCH more likely to stay and mess with the corn.

You are right that they will stay on it much longer when piled up and easy to get.

We have ZERO I mean ZERO feeder pens and we had 30 cow calf pairs on our place and never had more than 2 pics of cows eating at a feeder in a row. We never had a feeder broken or anything. But we have INCREDIBLE native grass growth on our place. never seen anything like it.

Goats on the other hand will compete with deer TREMENDOUSLY... and I have yet to see a fence a determined goat couldn't get through...